Doors and Windows

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Students should be able to answer following questions after
studying this topic:

• Write short note on louvered doors and revolving door indicating their
uses.
• Explain casement, louvered and corner window. Where is this tvpe of
window used?
• List types of windows. in your opinion which type of window is
suitable for admittance of more light inside the room? Discuss
• Explain about the various types of door based on working
mechanisms.
• Show in figure the general parts used in door and windows.
• Explain different types of door based on shutter with necessary
sketches
• Explain the various components of door and window with sketch.
Describe about bay and dormer window
• Explain elements of battered door shutter with sketch.
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 Doors
A door is a screen used to seal an opening in to the
building or between spaces within the building. The
opening is fixed with frames that holds the door shutters
by swinging around to close and fix or open. The frames
are made from different materials- wooden frames, steel
frames, aluminum frames as desired. The shutters are
designed to swing, slide,roll or collapse for opening or
closing the openings.
Doors have major two parts- Frames and Shutters. Frames
are made with horizontal and vertical members jointed
together. Usually the horizontal members used to be two
numbers but now a days the lower horizontal part is not
provided, instead the floor level works for that. The top
horizontal member of a door frame is known as head rail.

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Continued--

The vertical members are known as post. The shutter on

the other hand is a leaf fixed on the frame to the vertical
member.
The shutter is also known as a leaf fixed to frame to swing
at its fixture, known as hinges. The fixing of the shutters
may be different, depending upon the use and the
demand of the customers.

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Continued--
Door frame
Head
Horn
300 mm

Post / Style
Equal distances

Rebate Hold fasts

Floor finish
Dowel Bar
300

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 Terminology
1. Frame. It is an assembly of horizontal and vertical members, forming an enclosure, to which
the shutters are fixed.
2. Shutters. These are the openable parts of a door or window. It is an assembly of styles,
panels and rails.
3. Head. This is the top or uppermost horizontal part of a frame.
4. Sill. This is the lowermost or bottom horizontal part of a window frame. Sills are normally
not provided in door frames.
5. Horn. These are the horizontal projections of the head and sill of a frame to facilitate the
fixing of the frame on the wall opening. The length of horns is kept about 10 to 15 cm.
6. Style. Style is the vertical outside member of the shutter of a door or window.
7. Top rail. This is the top most horizontal member of a shutter.
8. Lock rail. This is the middle horizontal member of a door shutter, to which locking
arrangement is fixed.
9. Bottom rail. This is the lowermost horizontal member of a shutter.
10. Intermediate or cross-rails. These are additional horizontal rails, fixed between the top and
bottom rails of a shutter. A rail fixed between the top rail and lock rail is called frieze rail.

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 Terminology
11. Panel. This is the area of shutter enclosed between the adjacent rails.
12. Mullion. This is a vertical member of a frame, which is employed to sub-
divide a window or a door vertically.
13.Transom. This is a horizontal member of a frame, which is employed to
sub-divide a window opening horizontally.
14. Hold fasts. These are mild steel flats (section 30 mm × 6 mm), generally
bent into Z-shape, to fix or hold the frame to the opening. The horizontal
length of hold fast is kept about 20 cm, and is embedded in the masonry.
15. Jamb. This is the vertical wall face of an opening which supports the
frame.
16. Reveal. It is the external jamb of a door or window opening at right angles
to the wall face.
17. Rebate. It is depression or recess made inside the door frame, to receive
the door shutter.
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Size of Doors

The size of a door should be such that it would allow the movement of largest object or tallest
person likely to use the door.
As a rule, the height of a door should not be less than 1.8 m to 2 m.
The width of the door should be such that two persons can pass through it walking shoulder
to shoulder.
The common width-height relations, used are:
(i) Width = 0.4 to 0.6 height.
(ii) Height = (width + 1.2) metres.
The following are generally adopted sizes of doors for various types of buildings:
1. Doors of residential buildings
(i) External door ... (1.0 m × 2 m) to (1.1 m × 2 m)
(ii) Internal door ... (0.9 m × 2 m) to (1 m × 2 m)
(iii) Doors for bathrooms and water closets ... (0.7 m × 2 m) to (0.8 m × 2 m)
(iv) Garrages for cars ... 2.25 m (height) × 2.25 m (width) to 2.25 (height) × 2.40 (width).
2. Public buildings, such as schools, hospitals, libraries etc.
(v) 1.2 m × 2.0 m
(vi) 1.2 m × 2.1 m
(vii) 1.2 m × 2.25 m.

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 Location of doors and windows

The following points should be kept in view while locating doors and windows:
1. The number of doors in a room should be kept minimum since larger number of doors cause
obstruction, and consume more area in circulation.
2. The location of a door should meet functional requirements of a room. It should not be
located in the centre of the length of a wall. A door should preferably be located near the
corner of a room–nearly 20 cm away from the corner.
3. If there are two doors in a room, the doors should preferably be located in opposite walls,
facing each other, so as to provide good ventilation and free-air circulation in the rooms.
4. The size and number of windows should be decided on the basis of important factors such
as distribution of light, control of ventilation, and privacy of the occupants.
5. The location of a window should also meet the functional requirements of the room, such as
interior decoration, arrangement of furniture etc.
6. A window should be located in opposite wall, facing a door or another window, so that
cross-ventilation is achieved.
7. From the point of view of fresh air, a window should be located in the prevalent direction of
wind.
8. The sill of a window should be located about 70 to 80 cm about floor level of the room

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Types of Doors:
• Battened door, Paneled door,
• Glazed Door, Flushed door,
• Sliding door, Revolving Door,
• Rolling shutter door, Collapsible Door,
• Swing door.
1. Battened and ledged Door: Simple and suitable for
small door, built with battens bonded together and
ledged with horizontal members. Battens are 100 –
120mm wide and 20 to 30mm thick, whereas ledges are
100 to 200mm wide and 20 to 30mm thick provided in
three layers- top, middle and bottom.
Its figure is given below-

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Continued--
Paneled Door: These type of doors are widely used since
they are good looking and strong also. The door consists
of horizontal members known as rails and the vertical
members as styles. The panels are made of timber,
plywood or block board, aluminum sheet or even glass.
The panel may be single, double, triple or multiple.
In case of double panel, the top rail, lock rail and bottom
are the horizontal members. Similarly, vertical members
except the styles are known Mullions. In case the
horizontal members are four, except the lock rail, the
other rail is known as freeze rail.
The panels are beautifully decorated with various forms of
artistic figures making the door attractive and gorgeous.
the following figures give some examples-
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Continued--
Types of Doors :

Battened door Panel Door Glazed Door

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Continued--
Salient features of Framed and paneled door:
1. The styles are continuos from top to bottom in single piece,
2. All the rails provided are joined to both the ends with styles,
3. The styles and rails are jointed with tenon and mortised joints,
4. Mullion if provided, are jointed to the adjacent rails between
which it is fixed,
5. The bottom and lock rails are made wider i.e. 150mm than
top and frieze rails i.e. 100mm,
6. The entire frame on all inside is grooved to receive palels,
7. Additional beading timber is provided to improve the
elevation,
8. The lock rail is provided at about 800mm from the bottom.
9. Minimum width of timber panels is 150mm and 15mm thick
with max. with 0.5m2.

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 Tenon and mortise joint

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Continued--
Glazed or sash Doors: when additional light is required, then
glazed or sash door is provided. The portion of paneled
and glazed is 1:2 with bottom paneled and the top glazed.
Rebates are made in the sash bars to receive glass panel
and secured by wooden bead, or wooden beads fixed to
frames.
Flush doors: the doors made of solid or semisolid core or
skeleton and covered with plywood from both sides are
flush doors. Cost wise and simplicity it has been popular.
Louvered or Venetian doors: for the free ventilation and
privacy, instead of a panel, it is provided a number of
louvers placed horizontally fixing both ends with styles of
the frame. Half or two third part of a door may be provided
with louvered part and the rest with paneled part.

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 Pictures

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 Pictures

Flush Door
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 Pictures

Style

Freeze rail Lock Rail

Panel Door

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Continued--
Revolving Doors: These doors are provided in public places
where a large number of people use it such as library,
bank, etc. it is also suitable for air-conditioned building.
It closes automatically once used. The Mullion or
vertical member is supported on ball-bearing at the
bottom and bush bearing at the top so that rotation is
without any jerk, friction or noise. The shutters may be
fully glazed, partly glazed or paneled.
Sliding Door: The shutter slides on a runners or guides
rails. It may be one sliding shutter, two sliding or even
three sliding shutters.

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Continued--

Doors-

Flushed Door Sliding Door

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Continued--
Collapsible Door: Collapsible doors are made from steel. They
are used in Stores, shed, public buildings etc. it fabricated
from vertical double channel (20x10x2mm) joined together
with the hollows on the inside, so that a vertical gap is
created. Such channel units are placed at 100 to 200mm
apart and are braced flat iron diagonals 10 to 20mm wide
and 5mm thick. These diagonals helps the channel to open
or close. The shutters operates between two “T” shape iron
rails- fixed one on to the floor and the other to the lintel.
Rollers are mounted on to the horizontal members made on
the both ends of the vertical members in place of posts. The
channel is also provided with handle as it is heavy to open
and close.
Rolling steel shutter: these doors are usually used in garages,
stores, shops etc. the door consists of a frame, a drum and a
shutter of thin steel plate known as lath or slates.
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Continued--
The sheet or lath is about 1 to 1.25 thick interlock together.
The frame has steel guides on the sides in which the
shutter moves and then coils into the drum.
A horizontal shaft and spring are placed in the drum, due to
which the shutter opens and closes. The rolling shutters
are of two types-
1. pull-push type shutter, and
2. Mechanically geared type shutter.
The first is when the door opening area does not exceed 10
sqm. And the second is used when the area of opening
is larger than 10 sqm. They are operated by worm
gears, connecting rods and winding handle or by means
of chain pulley. Such doors are quite heavy ranging
from 25 kg to 30 kg /sqm.
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 Collapsible door

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 Windows
A window is comprised of two parts: (i) Window frame, and (ii) Sashes or shutter frame.
Window frames are fixed to the opening in the wall, by means of suitable hold fasts. The sashes or
shutter frames are fixed to the window frames by means of suitable hinges.
The window frame has sill at the bottom, unlike doors.
The function of the window is
to admit light and air to the room and
to give a view to the outside.
It should also provide insulation against heat loss and, in some cases, against sound.
The selection of size, shape, location and number of windows in a room depends upon the
following factors:
(i) Size of the room
(ii) Location of the room
(iii) Utility of the room
(v) Direction of wind
(vi) Climatic conditions such as humidity, temperature etc
(vii) Requirements of exterior view (viii) Architectural treatment to the exterior of the building.

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 Size of window
Based on the above factors, the following thumb rules are in use:
1. Breadth of window = 1/8* (width of room + height of room).
2. The total area of window-openings should normally vary
from 10 to 20% of the floor area of the room, depending
upon climatic conditions.
3. The area of window-opening should be at least one square
metre for every 30 to 40 cubic metre of inside content of the
room.
4. In public buildings, the minimum area of windows should be
20% of floor area
5. For sufficient natural light, the area of glazed panels should
at least be 8 to 10% of the floor area.
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 Windows and Ventilators: Types and their fixing details
Windows are provided in the building to inlet natural light in to
the rooms. It also works as a ventilator. Light is transmitted
into the rooms through glasses fixed in the window shutters.
In that case ventilation is possible only when the window is
open. Following are the types of Windows according to
nature of operational movement of shutters, materials used
for construction manner of fixing and their location –
1. Casement / ordinary window, 2. Glazed / sash window,
3. Louvered window, 4. Pivoted window,
5. Corner window, 6. double hung window,
7. Gable window 8. Dormer window
9. Bay window 10 Clarestorey window

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Continued--
11. Lantern light window 12. Skylight window
13 Sliding window 14. Venetian shutter
15. Ankhi Jhyal 16. Deshemaru Jhya etc.

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 Casement / ordinary window
• Common types of windows usually provided in buildings.
• The shutters of the window open like shutters of the
doors.
• The window has a frame which is rebated to receive the
shutters.
• The shutters consists of styles, top rails, bottom rails, and
intermediate rails, thus dividing it into panels.
• The panels may either be glazed, or unglazed, or partly
glazed and partly unglazed.
• In case of windows with double shutters, the outer
shutters may have wire gauged panels for fly proofing.

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 Glazed / sash window
• Type of casement window in which the panels are fully glazed.
• The frame of each shutter consists of two vertical styles, top rail and a
bottom rail.
• The space between the top and bottom rails is divided into small panels
by means of small timber members placed horizontally and vertically.
• These timber members, known as sash bars or glazing bars are rebated
to receive glass panels.
• Glass-panes are fixed to these sash bars either by means of putty or by
timber beads commonly known as glazing beads secured to the sash bars
by means of nails.
• If the window opening is wide, the window frame may have central vertical
member known as mullion.
• Similarly, if the height of window opening is more (or if a ventilator is
combined with the window) the window frame may have horizontal
member called transom.

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 Louvered window,

• similar to louvered doors.

• Such windows are provided for the sole aim of
ventilation, and they do not permit any outside vision.
• The shutter consists of top and bottom rails, and two
styles which are grooved to receive the louvers.
• The louvers are generally fixed.
• The economical angle of inclination of the louvers is
45°.
• The louvers slope downward to the outside to run-off
the rain water.

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 Pivoted window,
• the shutters are allowed to swing round
pivots fixed to the window frame.
• The window frame has no rebates.
• The frame of the window shutter is similar
to that of an encasement window.
• The shutter can swing or rotate either
horizontally, or vertically

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 Corner window

• This is a special type of window which is provided in

the corner of a room.
• This window has two faces in two perpendicular
directions.
• Due to this, light and air is admitted from two direction.
• Such a window very much improves the elevation of
the building.
• However, special lintel has to be cast over the window-
opening.
• The jamb post of the window, at the corner, is made of
heavy section
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 Double hung window,

• This type of window consists of a frame and a pair of

shutters, arranged one above the other, which can
slide vertically within the grooves provided in the
window frame.
• By the provision of such sliding, the windows can be
cleaned effectively and at the same time ventilation
can be controlled effectively since the windows can be
opened at the top and bottom to any desired extent.
• The upper sash moves in the downward direction,
thus opening at the top, while the lower sash move in
the upward direction thus opening at the bottom
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 GABLE WINDOWS
It is a vertical
window
provided in
the gable
end of a
pitched roof.

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 DORMER WINDOWS
• A dormer window is a
vertical window
provided on the sloping
roof
• Such a window provides
ventilation and lighting
to the enclosed space
below the roof, and at
the same time, very
much improve the
appearance of the
building.
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 BAY WINDOWS
• Bay windows project outside the external wall
of the room.
• projection may be triangular, circular,
rectangular or polygonal in plan.
• provided to get an increased area of opening
for admitting greater light and air.
• They also provide extra space in the room, and
improve the overall appearance of the building.

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 CLERESTORY WINDOWS
• These windows are provided in a room which has greater ceiling
height than the surrounding rooms, or when a lean-to-roof of low
height is there adjacent to the room.
• It is generally provided near the top of the main roof, and they
open above the lean-to-roof, or roof slab of adjoining rooms.
• The window shutter is made to swing on two horizontal shutters
provided on side styles.
• It can be opened or closed by means of two cords, one attached
to the top rail and other to the bottom rail of the shutter.
• The shutter swings in such a way that upper part opens inside the
room and the lower part opens outside, to exclude rain water.
• Such a window increases the appearance of the building.
• It is essential to provided a rain-shed or chhajah over the window.

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 LANTERN WINDOWS
• Such windows are provided over the flat roofs,
to provide more light and air to the inner
apartments/rooms of a building.
• The windows project above the roof level.
• They may be of several shapes in plan.
• They admit light either through vertical faces or
inclined faces.
• The roof slab has an appropriate opening
below the window.
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 SKY LIGHTS
• A sky light is provided on a sloping roof, to admit
light.
• The window projects above the top sloping surface.
• They run parallel to the sloping surface.
• The common rafters are suitably trimmed and the
sky light is erected on a curb frame shown in Fig.
17.37.
• The opening so made is properly treated by lead
flashing to make the roof, surrounding the opening,
water-proof.
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 SLIDING WINDOWS
These windows are similar to sliding doors.
The shutters move either horizontally or
vertically on small roller bearings.
Suitable openings or grooves are left in the
frame or walls to accommodate the
shutters when they are slide to open the
window.
Such windows are provided in trains, buses
and shops and bank counters.
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 Ankhi Jhyal
• Ankhi Jhyal (also spelled Aankhi Jhyal) is a traditional Newari-style latticed
wooden window found in the historic architecture of the Kathmandu Valley.
• The term “Ankhi” means "eye", and "Jhyal" means "window", symbolizing its eye-
like appearance on the façade.
• It features intricate latticework (usually in geometrical or floral patterns), allowing
light and air to enter while maintaining privacy.
• The lattice also enables people inside to look out without being seen from the
outside.
• made from seasoned hardwood such as sal or sissoo, carved by skilled artisans.
• Provides ventilation, lighting, and security, while adding to the aesthetic value of
the building.
• It often decorates upper floors and façades of residences, temples, and palaces.
• Ankhi Jhyal is a hallmark of Newar architecture and symbolizes the
craftsmanship and artistic heritage of the valley.
• It is an iconic element in cities like Bhaktapur, Patan, and Kathmandu.

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 Deshemaru Jhya
Deshemaru Jhya is a traditional Newar-style wooden window
commonly found in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal.
The design of Deshemaru Jhya is relatively modest compared to
other Newar windows.
It typically features a rectangular frame with wooden bars or grills,
allowing light and air while maintaining privacy.

These windows were traditionally used in residential buildings,

especially in upper stories, serving both ventilation and
aesthetic purposes.
Deshemaru Jhya still reflects the Newar architectural tradition
and contributes to the historic urban fabric of cities like
Bhaktapur, Patan, and Kathmandu.
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 Door and Window Fittings

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 Bolts

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 Handles

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 Locks

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Process of Fixing Doors and Windows

• Fixing of door and window frames in the opening can be done

simultaneously at the time of construction or later on after completing
masonry works of the wall.
• Holdfasts as required numbers are fixed on the frames before setting
the frame in position,
• The back of the timber frame is tarred with mobile or bituminous
material to keep ants away,
• Metal frames from iron are also painted with red oxide on all the
surfaces,
• The frames are taken to its position, erected, plumbed and leveled
and walled for fixing.
• The holdfasts are fixed either in wall or with concreting ,
• Once again the frames are checked for its horizontal and vertical
trueness.
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 Ventilations

Ventilators are small windows, fixed at a greater height

than the window, generally about 30 to 50 cm below roof
level.
The ventilator has a frame and a shutter, generally glazed,
which is horizontally pivoted.
The shutter can be opened or closed by means of two
cords, one attached to the top rail and other to the
bottom rail of the shutter.
The top edge of the shutter opens inside and bottom edge
opens outside, so that rain water is excluded.

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 VENTILATOR COMBINED WITH
WINDOWS OR DOOR: FAN LIGHT
• Ventilators may also be provided in
continuation of a window or a door, at its top.
• Such a ventilator is also known as a fan
light. The construction of a fan light is similar
to a window sash.
• Such a ventilator is usually hinged at top,
and can open out.
• Alternatively, the ventilator shutter can be
hinged at the bottom.
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